Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to evaporation closures, particularly to evaporation closures for clinical analyzer reagent bottles.
Clinical analyzers are widely used for the analysis of chemical and biological samples. Operational simplicity and cost effectiveness are important aspects of clinical analyzer utility. Improvements in either the ease of use or cost per test for a clinical analyzer can significantly impact its value in the market place.
Chemical and biological reagents are commonly employed together with clinical analyzers. Such reagents are used to perform chemical and biological reactions necessary for the successful analysis of a sample. Frequently, a significant portion of the cost and operator time required to perform a given analysis can be related to the selection, manipulation and losses of such reagents.
Typically, reagent containers for clinical analyzers are either un-capped during use or are covered by puncturable sealing means such as elastomeric septa supported by metallic or plastic caps. Reagents in un-capped containers or in containers capped by punctured closures are exposed to the environment of the analyzer. Such exposure can lead to contamination of the analyzer, which in turn can cause damage or impaired functioning or can contaminate the analyzer in such a way as to lead to inaccurate results on future assays. More importantly, such exposure can effect the reagents themselves. If a component of the reagent is sensitive to air or moisture, for example, then it can be destroyed or its functioning can be impaired. If one component is more volatile than another, then its concentration relative to less volatile components can be altered in such a way as to adversely impact the assay to be performed. Generally, exposure of assay reagents can significantly impact the cost and reliability of a given assay.
Methods to reduce such adverse impacts have previously required complex and/or costly sealing means such as stoppers or pipettes used as stoppers or complex, device specific reagent containers. Some of these techniques require that the operator spend time manipulating the container system and others require that the reagent bottle be used with the specific instrument for which it was designed.
Another practical disadvantage of some closure systems is that they require careful positioning of a bar code or other label on the reagent container after the closure has been affixed. This is inconvenient because it requires an operator to inspect a container-closure combination and individually affix the label. Typically, this problem has required the use of device specific reagent bottles wherein the shape of the bottle allowed it to connect to the closure in only one way, thereby increasing cost and complexity.
The present invention provides a solution to these and other problems by providing cost effective, simple, machine operable closures that allow cap position independent label positioning. The closures of the present invention improve the ease of handling and life expectancy of chemical and biological reagents and, therefore, are useful in any application involving such reagents.